We're ensuring quality and safety in services that don't operate under the National Quality Framework (NQF).
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About the project
The Australian Government is committed to supporting the delivery of safe and high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC).
The National Quality Framework (NQF) provides a national approach to regulation, assessment and quality improvement for most ECEC services. Regulatory authorities administer the NQF in each state and territory.
A small number of services are out of scope of the NQF and state and territory residual legislation. These services operate under the Child Care Subsidy Minister’s Rules 2017.
From early 2025, we will commence a regulatory project to ensure these services comply with the quality and safety requirements in the Minister’s Rules.
Our regulatory approach:
- will align with the key objectives of the NQF
- will acknowledge the unique contexts these services operate in
- aims to ensure all children have access to high quality and safe early learning environments.
The project builds on several existing projects including:
- ACECQA Quality and Safety Project
- Northern Territory Regulatory Project
- South Australia Regulatory Project.
Who is involved
From early 2025, we will start regulating Community Child Care Fund restricted (CCCFR) services operating under the Minister’s Rules.
The project is being undertaken by a dedicated team within the department, the ECY Regulatory Project team. This team is separate to, but will work collaboratively with, the CCCFR program team.
We will work collaboratively with these services to improve quality and safety, acknowledging the unique contexts these services operate in.
How it will work
Regulatory officers will take a risk-based approach to identifying services to help them deliver high-quality and safe ECEC.
Regulatory officers will monitor and guide providers and services to achieve compliance with Minister’s Rules to support the delivery of high-quality ECEC.
The regulatory officer's role will include:
- monitoring and assessing services’ compliance with Minister's Rules
- conducting site monitoring and compliance visits of services to evaluate adherence to Minister’s Rules and commitment to quality and safety
- providing contextually appropriate guidance and support to services on compliance matters
- investigating complaints and incidents related to non-compliance.
Regulatory officers will utilise the ongoing work these services have already engaged in as part of the following projects:
- ACECQA Quality and Safety Project
- Northern Territory Regulatory Project
- South Australia Regulatory Project.
Why we’re doing this
Research shows high-quality ECEC:
- leads to better health, education and employment outcomes later in life
- lays the foundation for lifelong development and learning.
We are committed to ensuring all children have access to high-quality and safe ECEC.
The project is designed to enhance quality and safety, ultimately improving outcomes for children, particularly in remote and very remote areas.
What you need to do
Through the existing quality and safety projects, you have already been given a roadmap to improve the quality and safety of your service and have had opportunity to apply these learnings.
This project will see the department start to closely monitor your services alignment with quality and safety requirements under Minister’s Rules.
Implementation of the regulatory system and first visits will occur in early 2025. You are encouraged to consolidate the improvements you have already made and identify next steps for quality improvement.
We will provide regular updates to identified services in the lead up to, and throughout, the project.
The framework
The Minister’s Rules Quality and Safety Regulatory Framework will guide the project.
The framework is part of the regulatory system and involves regulatory officers, tools, resources, and best practices to assess service quality, safety, and compliance with the Minister’s Rules. It aims to support continuous quality improvement in these services.
The framework uses a strengths-based approach and includes conditions from the Minister’s Rules and the Education and Care Services National Regulations. It is based on a review tool created by the Northern Territory Government as part of the Northern Territory Regulatory Project.
Contact
If you have questions about the project, contact ECYRegulatoryProject@education.gov.au.
If you have questions about the CCCF restricted grant, contact CCCFRestricted@education.gov.au.